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Thursday, July 21, 2011

is double-parking and impeding traffic around 20 Federal Place becoming a safety issue?

Over the past few months, the particular practice of drivers picking up and dropping off call center employees on Federal Street is becoming slightly annoying, and potentially dangerous.Here is how it works:

Cars normally park diagonally in various free spots surrounding 20 Federal Place, a building now home to various call centers.

Because employees prefer a pickup or drop-off immediately adjacent to the doors of the building, drivers looking to collect or deposit their human cargo double-park (and seen yesterday for the first time, triple-park) along the narrow street.

The result... Parked cars taking up lanes of space, which other vehicles have to move around throughout the work day. Additionally, after picking up the employees the stopped cars have to re-merge into traffic, which have caused accidents.

check out these photos:

The black car in the above and below photos is actually parked left of the center line, and was observed impeding the flow of traffic in both directions. Also it was too hot for the gent driving the car to sit there, so he was leaning on his vehicle watching the traffic move around him.

One of the issues concerning the downtown is a lack of police presence in the downtown area.

While it is one of the safest parts of the city, normal everyday urban experiences like illegal parking, loitering and begging, littering, and drinking alcohol in public are definitely on the upswing.

Here's a question:If a police officer was stationed downtown and issued tickets for littering cigarette butts and parking citations (in addition to other essential services), would it be a revenue neutral effort or even a money-maker for the police department?

4 comments:

Who cares if it makes them money. That should never enter into the equation. The police department is not a for-profit entity. It would potentially prevent a future accident and could save a life. Regarding the cigarette butts/littering/panhandling/open container portion, discouraging these activities will likely increase attendance, and therefore revenue, at downtown establishments. Is there money to be made? Sure, but not by the police department.

I definitely would be in favor of a YPD officer being stationed around 20 Federal Place M-F day hours for a short period. I have seen the call center workers' rides double-parking and blocking the regular flow of traffic. I have had to either wait unnecessarily or risk head-on collision to get down the street on numerous occasions because they block the road. Station YPD there for a few days and have them issue some citations. A few citations and they would get the message.

This has been a problem for months, as you mentioned, and it's almost caused me to be in an accident, and I've also witnessed a dispute erupt out of this, as a driver trying to get through could not because of all the double and triple parking. It's incredibly illegal, and it needs to be stopped, money or no money, as Paul said.